Published by Archive Books
Edited by Ros Gray
Graphic design by Konst & Teknik
Translation from Swedish to English by Katarina Trodden and Kathy Gow Sjöblom
English 176 pages ISBN 978-3-948212-17-9
In the book Peace with the Earth — Tracing Agricultural Memory, Refiguring Practice, artist and researcher Åsa Sonjasdotter revisits the farming histories of three plants that provide generous food for humans: emmer wheat, potatoes, and turnips.
The enquiry is set on the island of Gotland in Sweden, not far from where synthetic fertiliser and monoculture breeding were invented and industrialised.
In researching historical traces from the perspective of cultivated plants, the kitchen garden emerges as the most reliable food provider for farming households in an otherwise depleting habitat.
Peace with the Earth — Tracing Agricultural Memory, Refiguring Practice
responds to the pamphlet Peace with the Earth, written by the Swedish suffragettes and peace activists Elisabeth Tamm (1880–1958) and Elin Wägner (1882–1949) in 1940.
Peace with the Earth — Tracing Agricultural Memory, Refiguring Practice is edited by Ros Gray and is part of a series of works initiated by Åsa Sonjasdotter that investigate agricultural narratives and practices.
The English translation of the pamphlet Peace with the Earth (Fred med Jorden) was published online by Archive Books in 2020. A printed version with an introductory foreword will be published later this year. The above quotation is from page ten of the pamphlet.
Archive journal #9 (March and April 2020) presents additional work by Åsa Sonjasdotter and is available at www.archivejournal.org.
More about Peace with the Earth
— Tracing Agricultural Memory, Refiguring Practice:
In Peace with the Earth — Tracing Agricultural Memory, Refiguring Practice, the perspective is shifted from people to plants. This reveals gaps and inconsistencies in dominant narratives that focus on human progress and development. For these particular plants and their habitats, the history of farming has meant depletion.
There is a form of cultivation, however, that is poorly documented and has no prominent place in history books, yet it offers a different story. While large parts of the harvest from grain fields and cattle herding were lifted out of the habitat in the form of taxes, the kitchen garden – tended by those working in the domestic realm – remained a reliable source of food for the farming household. Nourished with household waste, the cultivation system of the kitchen garden left no traces of depletion behind.
Through a close reading of remnants found in landscapes, museum collections, libraries, and archives, Åsa Sonjasdotter has gathered materials that bear witness to the nurturing relationships between plants and humans. By paying attention to overlooked stories hidden in the gaps between these living and dead materials, this book opens a space to reconnect with practices and narratives that enable humans to live in peace with the Earth.
Åsa Sonjasdotter
Peace with the Earth —Tracing Agricultural Memory, Refiguring Practice
Edited by Ros Gray
Graphic design by Konst & Teknik
Translation from Swedish to English by Katarina Trodden and Kathy Gow Sjöblom
English 176 pages ISBN 978-3-948212-17-9
18,00 Euros
Remember that this and other books can be requested from your local library!